The G36 is fast becoming my favorite assualt rifle. If it truly lives up to all the reports I've read, it seems to have unmatched reliability (at least comparable to the AK)and a host of other benefits. Needless to say I would LOVE to get one. Now just vote and wish and pray.

Still would be illegal for a cicilian to own. Additionally, a Class 3 I know has shot it and M16 and says M16 is much better.

Cicilians shouldn't be allowd to own any guns [:D]

You have 2 ways of that happening... both slim as hell for most of us.

1. Buy a lame HK SL8 & spend $$$$$$$$$$$ to convert it to a semi auto G 36

2. HK goes to US (as it is in GA right now) AND produces its semi-auto rifles for civillians.

It's not something to hold your breath about

If I am not mistaken, the importation law is not the same law as the AWB. I do not believe there is a sunset clause written into this law.

Now I have read a news article that says HK is opening a factory in Georgia, but it wont oepen until 2005 I believe it said. So...still no G36 anytime soon...unfortunately. SL8 is as close as we get.

Evvidently you havn't read the report from one one the German soldiers on here of how bad the G-36 is, just the H$K propaganda. The G-36 is terrible from just about every std, military view point. The plastic undersize dovetail rail that accepts nothing, the plastic rear sight that is not evev close to being as good as the toy airsoft sights. The ergonomics are terrible and so is the human engineering. A true jam-a-matic! Heavy and awkward.
The list is endless.
Bad shootin, Jack

You could buy one as a civilain

[img]http://www.thermaldynamics.com/pictures/guns/sl36-3.jpg[/img]

www.adcofirearms.com has the conversions done for $1700.  That inculdes dyeing the rifle black, putting a mag adapter on and adding the SW rearstock.  Not bad and I'm saving all my pennies for this one.  

The G36 is bit overrated.  It's has the advantage of being reliable but it loses to the AR in all other areas.  Ok, shooting a G36 is kinda like putting a big plastic box on the shoulder. The rifle is big and chunky. Trigger is horrible The dual optic system is a joke.....and the charging handle put the rail way too high over the bore and the cheek wield is funny ( good if you have to wear gas mask I guess) I also found that it doesn't dissipate heat too well. I shot 100rds through mine ( not even fast shooting!) and I start feeling the handguard heating up quickly near where the first inch of the barrel is located, to a level which I don't feel too comfortable. And best of all, none of the pins are retained!!!   If one pin goes when out in the field, the trigger pack will detach itself from the rifle!! (ok, I guess you can stick a piece of dead wood to hold the part together) Firing pin is not chromelined.....not good in place where there is salt and humdity.  

I read somewhere that NATO troops that use the G36 complained of the weapon heating up as you decribe - apparently HK has released an upgrade that incorporates a new design to cool the barrel more effectively. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but they said it was much better.

I'm a big HK Fan! I love my Tactical But I more than likely will not be buying G36 if they come to the U.S. market.

In an ideal world, one that was unmolested by "Billy-bob-bubba-I did not inhale" Clinton. I more than likely would now own a HK91 and HK93.  Instead I own a very nice tricked out Ar15 and a really nice AR10T.  

In the last year especially I have really grown to appreciate my U.S. made rifles.  The only things the Clintons did was to narrow our choices.  What I've read about the g36 rifle is very good but, so are my AR's and I really don't see any need to payout another grand or more for a rifle that is really no better than what I already have.

since I have a .45 Tactical I am interested in a .45 Upper but am not particularly thrilled with the magazine choices and their capacities.  So, I am not interested in a g36 I would be very interested in a UMP with 25 round magazines

SMGLee, what kind of vertical foregrip is that? Where can I find one? Looks very nice (the rifle and grip that is)

When I read what you said, it sounded like it was $1700 just for the conversion, but no! it's the ENTIRE FRIGGIN' RIFLE!!!! INCLUDING AIMPOINT ML2....Quite astounding, thanks for the heads up WaMag!
Here's the link:
[url]http://www.adcofirearms.com/utr/customrifles.cfm[/url]

Edited to add: Then again it says in fine print that it doesn't include the aimpoint...confusing...

I have fired a "Real" G-36 at Knob Creek.
Why anyone would want one of these clusterfucks is beyond me.

The M-16 is a far superior weapon.

The G-36 is used by one country, the M-16 is used by many.

Enough said.

Germany, Spain, and rumors that the English are going to start using the G36.

If HK makes a US-made, civilian legal G36 type rifle, I'd buy one just to have in my collection and to mess around with.

The G36 is superior to the M16/M4 in one respect, it has the ability to continue to function when contaminated with sand and grit, this problem continues to plague our troops in arid combat zones.

And in what conflict was this proven ?

By who ?

HK G36 in the Yuma Desert


By Dan Shea
The desert at Yuma Proving Grounds was hot - 116 degrees F hot, and no shade. The engineers from HK in Oberndorf Germany were here to torture test a number of their new weapon designs. They had one week to burn up 10,000 rounds of 40mm through the 40mm GMG, and tens of thousands more 5.56 NATO ammunition through the new G36 rifle and carbine. The G36 had been under development for years, kind of a secret project that had been resurrected from the early 1970's. Their ambition was to see what kind of punishment it would take to cause failures in the new designs in order to correct any problems before these new HK weapons were sold to end users. This was a bit of a torture test on the shooters as well. I was there for the work, and fired several thousand rounds from the new G36 in all three variations. Your faithful correspondent got a pretty good feel for this interesting new system....

The days of "This is my rifle, this is my bayonet, these are my bullets" disappeared about 35 years ago - the modern soldier needs to be somewhat of a technician as well. Weapon "systems" are now the in thing - each time I go to a show, there are more complex weapons than you can shake an '03 Springfield at. The men (and women) who use these rifles have a lot of things to worry about besides what fancy features their weapon has. Sometimes hitting a target under stress is impossible due to the brainlock that sets in from multiple button overload. (Ever shoot the aptly named "Spas-12"? Ever consider what figuring out all those controls in a pucker factor 10 situation might be like?). I sometimes wonder if the designers are getting too far ahead of what the users need. My first look at the G36 rifle with it's space age technology and appearance, and it was "Here we go again..."; until I spent about 15 minutes with a G36 in hand.

Where's the selector? Right here at the thumb position - simple S-E-F lower. Two scopes? They were there for a reason, they are simple to use, and target acquisition was swift and comfortable. Lots of buttons and confusing features? Not on this rifle - easy to figure out, and easy to remember where the few controls are. Disassembly? Here we go, I thought, you need a Master's in engineering for this. Nope - modular parts, quick to access for disassembly and inspection. This is really a marvelous design. It's lightweight, ergonomically engineered (That's "Comfy to shoot" for all you grunts out there), and it has one feature that we all can appreciate- it keeps on shooting.

Before I wax too poetic about this rifle system, and call it the "Energizer Bunny" of assault rifles, I need to get a little more technical on this. HK has taken two steps backwards, one step sideways, and ended up moving four steps forward. The gas take off system never exhausts into the receiver. HK uses an M16 style locking bolt head that needs to rotate out of the barrel extension before it can go into recoil. The driving force for this camming action is the backward motion of the bolt carrier, which is driven by a piston and drive rod that takes the energy of the expanding propellant gases (Taken from a barrel gas port) and drives it to the rear. At no time does any of the propellant gas enter the receiver, other than a small amount following the cartridge on ejection. Some existing, proven technologies combined with modern carbon reinforced polymer construction have yielded a very interesting rifle.

The beauty of Gene Stoner's multiple locking bolt lug design is combined with the cleanliness of the gas piston unlocking system.
Translation: The receiver stays very clean.
And this means: No fouling of the moving parts.
Which accomplishes: Sort of an "Energizer Bunny" assault rifle. You can shoot all day without cleaning, which is what we did out in the desert.

Of course, this is not recommended procedure, and HK may take exception to SAR saying this. That's alright - because we look at the things from a lot of different angles, and many of us used M16's back when you had to strip them and clean them every 300 rounds or so, no matter WHAT obligations the social secretary had on the calendar. Many times an "End user" does not have time to clean out the gas fouling, and rifles that are not subject to this problem have always been popular with the troops. HK USA has one rifle with no malfunctions so far, and one carbine had 24,000 rounds put through it at the Yuma test alone. That's pretty good performance from anyone's point of view!

The German Army has purchased the G36 in two different styles - the regular rifle (G36), and a shorter barreled carbine (G36K). A light support version called the MG36 has also been evaluated for possible adoption. The MG36 has a heavy barrel and bipod, and is intended to utilize either the box magazines or a Beta C-mag with a 100 round capacity (These C-mags are in production now for LE and Military customers only). Orders for the G36 filled with the German Army are around 18,000 units to date.

The dual scopes shown in these photos are what the German Army has ordered from HK. Export models ("E") to the United States will have the single 1.5x scope built into the handle, unless specially ordered. The top scope is an electronic Red Dot type sight that can be utilized with either a battery for low light, or with a shade opened to operate with ambient light during the day. The bottom scope is a 3x optical sight with reticle. It is possible for each sight to be set for a different point of aim. You could conceivably set the red dot for 100 yards, and the scope for 250 yards.

The well thought out ambidextrous controls include the extended selector lever (Safety), magazine release, cocking handle, bolt catch and sling attachments. The cocking handle can also be utilized as a forward assist in quietly closing the bolt with a round in the chamber for special situations.

So, to the big question; "How did it shoot"? Extremely well. The G36 was very smooth and controllable in all of its variations. The straight line relationship of the line of fire of the barrel with the recoiling system and the buttstock has made for a very controllable firearm. There was little evident rise on full automatic, and the bursts were dead on target. I believe that the rate of fire at 750 rpm might be a little bit above the natural harmonic of this cartridge, but it was not really evident from the performance. I did not see a single malfunction in the thousands of rounds that were fired while I was there at Yuma. This does not mean that in the week of testing HK did not have any malfunctions, just that I did not witness any at all in any of the 3 variants we fired. The MG36 on its bipod with the 100 rounds of the Beta C-mag was a regular sewing machine, and it was very controllable.

Well, the G36 is in Afghanistan with the German Army and the SAS are also using it on a limited basis.

Nice article.

However a test in the desert by an editor of Small Arms Review is not the rigors of combat.

It does however lead one to believe that the G36 is a good weapons system, an improvement over HKs of the past.

When they use one in a real-world conflict,
that will be the "proof is in the pudding", so to speak.  

How come nobody can make a weapons system that looks, feels and handles like an AR-15, but with the gas piston and stuff like that incorporated?  I thought the majority of the "problems" associated with the AR-15/M16 family is the direct gas inpingment system, the tight tolerances, and the lack of "stopping power" of the 5.56 NATO round.  Do we really need a multi-billion dollar "new" weapons system to solve one or two concerns about our current, very good, very efficient gun?

Ghost

P.s. even if I had the money and I could buy a full-fledged G36, NOPE.  I won't spend my hard earned $$s on a bigger, heavier, less modular rifle that fires the exact same cartridge.  If I wanted a bigger, heavier, less modular rifle, I would get a HK91/93, FAL, M1A, or the like.  

I've fiddled with a god's honest G36 back about 4 years ago just after the gun was coming over to US soil.

I was at a local SWAT competition where many vendors who sell to LE agencies had their wares.   Sure enough, there was an HK distributor there with just about everything one could imagine from the HK line.   They had a G36 with the dual optic there and after reading all the hype it was the first thing I picked up.

My first impressions of the thing was that the ergonomics were all backwards, typical HK.    This ofcourse is the impression I am left with after years of handling the AR15 and becoming accustomed to it's design before ever handling the G36.

Ergonomics and the "feel" for the rifle is something that can probably be overcome, especially in a military setting when training troops that may have limited to zero experience with such firearms.    People with little training or experience would probably grow to like the G36 just fine because they have nothing else to go on.

The one thing about the G36 I absolutely hated though, the dual optic.   That POS has some SERIOUS issues with limited field of view due to the way it has battery or adjustment "buldges" coming out either side of the housing.    Not to mention both of the optics have seriously small tube diameters which even further hinder field of view.    The sights are just crap, total utter crap.

Now what SMGLee posted in the above picture, that's atleast a step in the right direction where a truely quality optic can be installed.   Something that doesn't restrict field of view so drastically as with the G36 cluster-f**k dual optic sight.

But optics generally all get mounted pretty high due to the location of the charging handle placement.   Atleast the rail allows a single optic to be brought down lower to the cheek weld than the comparable carry handle dual optic.


I absolutely wouldn't buy one if I was presented with the opportunity.   Would much rather have an HK93 with collapsable stock.

Of all the things on that HK distributor table that day, the two things that I was most impressed with were the HK53 and the HK P7 series.    I never should have bought my HK USP 45V1, instead I should have bought a P7 M13 while I had the chance before Ca. passed their stupid AW ban and killed the ability to get high cap magazines.

I have had two come through my patrol rifle instructor school I teach and both had problems making it through the week and one had to be taken completly apart, fixed and put back together.  I would not buy one.

I guess that makes up my mind.
That is all I need to hear.

Mr. Jone, G36 will lock up just as a M16 well with dirt and grit. the advantage of the G36 is the gas does not get blown back into the receiver thus creates in theroy a more reliable weapon for longer duration.

Ok the G36 rifle system has been out for what??? Four years and the AR-15/M-16 system has been out forty.  How many of us would have purchased a AR in 1967.   "why would you want the piece of shit its all plastic and dosent work, I'll stick with my M14."  or "the troops in the Nam, are dying because of that rifle it wasn't tested in battle before the man put in to action."  
By some aurguments here we should have given up on the AR system in the 1970's, but we fixed most of the problems and now there is a darn website on the topic.  Who is too say that in twenty years we wont be taking about the XM-8 and that dam new plasma rifle that hasn't been tested in combat, and runs out of juice after three days.
I'm just saying it is a weapons system and can be configured just like the ar system.  It might take a couple of more years to get it right, it did for the AR weapons system.  From what history has shown the Germans love to make great rifles, lets work the bugs out and not be so short sited.

I just don't see enough advantages with the G36 that would justify the enormous costs of changing over to a completely different weapons platform, vanquishing all the subprograms devoted towards the current system, and flushing out our inventory and buying a new one when we can't even supply our troops with what we have/don't have now.  As for the advantage of no gas blowback, I thought someone already came up with a piston mod upper for the AR-15/M16 that would give it the same advantage.

In regards to AK_Mike's previous post: my sentiments exactly.  I keep hearing about how tankers and other vehicle operators aren't issued rifles because of the shortage, and one guy (forgot name) had to buy his own upper and sidearm before his unit was redeployed overseas.  So if they can't have enough guns now, how can they hope to have enough of a newer, more expensive version?  I think someone up top is not thinking straight.  Don't get me wrong, I like innovation, but one has to weigh the cost to benefits of the innovation.  As far as the G36/XM8 goes, I think its too much cost/hassle for too little benefit.  

Ghost

Just more to add.  My G36 grouped just under 1.5MOA for the first 5rds and then accuracy just went done to the ditch as the barrel heated up.  

I came to the conclusin that it is an innovative rifle in terms of cost cutting!  Everything is designed for ease of manufacturing.  Things like "non-retained" take down pin is just a sign of cheapness on the part of HK.  And sure I won't use it as a foot step to climb over wall and stuff.  

Hey lee, are you happy with your SL8-G36 conversion?

The word "conscript" means nothing to me. The U.S had a conscript military for most of it's history. The Iraelis have a conscript Army. Being a conscript does not make one a better or worse shot.  Germany has a modern military, and make excellent weapon systems. Always have.

[red] Your philosophy is ok, but from what I hear and see the G36 argument is NOT the M-16 argument of the 60s. The similarities run out at "cheap plastic". M-16s utilized a caliber change over from 7.62x51 to 5.56x45. This made for a controllable automatic ROF & was much easier to hump. Can the same advantages be seen btw the M-16 & the G36? No. Same caliber, roughly equivalent weights. Why reinvent the wheel?

   I'm just saying their is a lot of pissing and moaning around here when it comes to the G36.  Not many have handled the rifle and put some rds down range. Also different people, tall, small, fat skinny, have different opinions on the same rifle.
   The G36 is starting to get more options for the rifle, defferent site rails, K models and Knights RAS to name a few, and the bugs are getting worked out of the system.  I'm just saying yes there is a lot of my friend of a friend said this about the rifle or ARs rule period going on. The one thing that I have learned about the internet is the guy in BDU at a gunshow that was in Delta Force, and the SEALs, who took on 150 nips and survived, can also post on this and many gun sites.  Secondhand knowledge from people who you dont know is not a great resource.  
   As for the why reinvent the wheel thing?  The topic is "how many would buy a G36.... if the AWB sunsets"  Would I???  Yes, just to have a HK rifle, just as I would a FAL, AK, or AR.  Do I think it makes since in purchasing a new system for the military?  No, different ammo for the AR maybe. Does the change in the gas system effect the survivablity SP? of the combat solder?  I dont know but a guy in the botton of the pentgon probably does.  
  I do know its like any rifle and needs to be cleaned, well except for those new plasma rifles coming out in fifty years. Take care of the rifle and it will take care of you, unless its French.  

Those little pins with detents are fine if the receiver is made of metal. If I am going out I will need tape!  Grinding steel detent against plastic is just not the way to go. I guess the advice is...dont disassembly the rifle for curiosity sake!  When I took mine out of the safe today, the one holding on to the handguard guard popped out......there isn't much effort at all.  I had a M96 and the pins never walk.